City shells out $250K to settle suit stemming from 2006 arrest

2:16 p.m. EST, October 8, 2012|By Kevin P. Connolly, Orlando Sentinel

The City of Daytona Beach has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man who suffered serious injuries after police entered his home without a warrant during a 2006 arrest that turned violent.

Matthew Olson's attorney, Howard Marks, said his client had back surgery and lost the ability to hear from one ear after police officers beat him in his home on Nov. 14, 2006. Records show Olson was a domestic-violence suspect. He was not prosecuted, records show.

City Attorney Marie Hartman and the city's Incident Review Committee recommended the settlement, in part, because two officers have no recollection of the arrest, one has partial recollection and no written reports exist describing the arrest, she wrote in a memo.

"Defense efforts are hampered by the lack of independent recollection of the officers involved. A jury verdict with attorney's fees could result in an award to the plaintiff in excess of the settlement amount,'' the memo says.

The City Commission approved the payment Oct. 3.

The case was set for trial Nov. 1. The suit named five officers and alleged false arrest, unlawful entry without a warrant, unlawful search without a warrant and excessive force.

Olson was upstairs in his home and sleeping when officers woke him up by knocking on his door. Police went there after a woman told a police officer that Olson threw her out of his moving truck.

She later told a different officer that she had jumped out and wasn't pushed, a city memo says.

The lawsuit said Olson stopped his vehicle after the woman jumped out to make sure she was OK and she wouldn't get back into his vehicle, so he drove home.

At about 10:30 p.m., officers pounded on his door, saying they would break it down if he didn't open the door, the suit says.

He opened the door, before Olson could say anything, officers rushed in and battered him, the suit alleges.